Stuckey happy with role coming off the bench

AUBURN HILS — When Rodney Stuckey volunteered to come off the bench he envisioned games like Wednesday night.

A strong showing for the Pistons second unit helped lift them to a 40-point win over the Phoenix Suns.

“Any way I can help my team out,” Stuckey said of coming off the bench. “I just thought I was being aggressive. Having the ball in my hand, creating for my teammates, in transition I was attacking. That’s what I envisioned.”

Stuckey had 18 points, five rebounds and four assists in the Pistons (5-11) victory over Phoenix.

Detroit’s win Wednesday marked the seventh straight game Stuckey has come off the bench, but just the second game Stuckey has served as the backup point guard.

Stuckey had been the team’s backup shooting guard. Pistons coach Lawrence Frank elected to have Stuckey run the point in the second half of Monday’s win over Portland and stuck with it Wednesday against Phoenix.

The move has seemed to spark not only Stuckey, but the entire second unit.

“We’re just trying to experiment with the second unit, just see what was working and what not,” Stuckey said. “We made some minor adjustments. Charlie (Villanueva is) coming off the bench now as well. He’s been helping us phenomenally. We just gotta continue to build on this. We had a really good night (Wednesday). We just gotta build on it.”

Frank said he made the move to try to find more minutes for Stuckey. Frank felt for the second straight game Stuckey played with great intensity.

“You look at the minutes he played with zero turnovers,” Franks said. “His intensity is just the attacking nature. Rodney has to live in the paint. When he does that, whether it’s transition, off the post or off cuts, that’s when he’s at his best. Plus on the defensive end, his ability, with his strength, to guard multiple positions is a big factor. When you look at the different combinations of him, Kyle (Singler), with Charlie, you have an attacker with shooting around him. As long as we’re getting the proper defensive presence then we can get some things going.”

Villanueva had another strong game off the bench Wednesday, finishing with 19 points, six rebounds and two assists in 21 minutes.

In the three games Villanueva has been in the rotation, he’s averaging 15.3 points and 4.3 rebounds. Villanueva is also hitting an average of three 3-pointers a game and shooting 56.2 percent from 3-point range. Villanueva hit four of his five 3-point attempts Wednesday.

“Anytime a person like that comes off the bench and can knock down shots like that, it’s always key for the team,” Pistons center Greg Monroe said of Villanueva. “He’s definitely given us a boost since he’s been in the rotation.”

Villanueva’s hot shooting has also helped open up things for other players on the bench.

“It’s makes it a lot tougher for the defense because he can pick-and-pop or post you up,” Pistons rookie Andre Drummond said of Villanueva. “You never really know what he’s trying to do. It kinds of frees me up as well because a lot of defenders try to switch over to him to help their teammate out.”

“Other teams have to respect that he’s a pick-and-pop player,” Stuckey said of Villanueva. “He’s a knock down 3-point shooter. It opens up the lanes for me. It’s pick your poison. He really helps us out.”

Wednesday’s win was Detroit’s second straight and fourth straight at home. The Pistons hit the road for a pair of back-to-back road games against Western Conference foes.

Detroit plays at 11-2 Memphis Friday and then at Dallas Saturday.

The Pistons have looked good at home recently, but are 1-8 on the road this season.

Frank is hopeful the team’s recent success can carry over to the road trip.

“We started to put together better play at home, now we have to take the show on the road against two of the better teams,” Frank said. “One, arguably the best team in the Western Conference (Memphis) and then a Dallas team that’s very, very good.”

After the two-game road trip, Detroit plays three straight at home next week.

Note: Single-game tickets for the second half of the season (Feb. 1 through April 15) go on sale Friday morning at 10 a.m.

Dave Pemberton covers the Pistons for Journal Register Newspapers. Email him at dave.pemberton@oakpress.com and follow him on Twitter @drpemberton.